In a passionate call for change, Karl Falkenberg,
European Commission Director-General for Environment calls for a closure of
landfilling, as we know it. "Separate collection is very much at the heart of this circular
economy - [but] we are coming to realize that separate collection is not
enough," said Falkenberg, the at a conference in Brussels on April 29th.

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Falkenberg, speaking at the event hosted
by TEPPFA, the European plastic pipes and fittings association, added that an
EU-wide ban on landfilling would provide "security for recyclers". The event
was the first satellite event before Green Week, an annual conference on European
environmental policy, which is to take place from 3 to 5 June, in Brussels.

This would encourage re-use or
material recycling, or encourage waste management companies to transform
waste into energy, through incineration.

"We need to close the easy door to
landfilling," he said, emphasizing the environmental damage and human health
risks posed by this form of waste management.

"China is maybe the best
demonstration of the environmental cost of our way of producing. How do we
ensure that our air remains reasonably clear, that our drinking water is not
making anyone sick? All of this makes real sense," he said.

Plastic: 'fantastic' but 'drastic'

Falkenberg's directorate has focused
much of its work on plastic, which has been referred to by the EU's environment
commissioner, Janez Potočnik, as both "fantastic", due to its adaptability, but
"drastic", due to its environmental impact.

Last year the directorate carried out
a public consultation on plastic waste, in which respondents called for greater
collection and recycling rates and a ban on landfilling. Regulation is
expected this year.

"Plastic is one of those materials
that can be recycled over and over again. Streams in which we collect need to
be organised for recycling," said Falkenberg, also issuing a call to plastic
producers to be careful that the materials that they use are amenable to
recycling and do not pose a health risk.

The environment directorate is
expected to release a target of 70% plastic recycling by 2020.

"We want clear messages that this is
the direction that society is moving", Falkenberg said, adding that this would
allow "sound investment decisions". "Those are the broad lines we are trying to
develop for our circular economy," he added.

Members of the plastic industry
called for a regulatory framework that was "supportive rather than restrictive"
of this goal.